The law on electronic communication
The law on electronic communication deals, among other things, with what rights a consumer has when purchasing electronic communication services from an operator and what obligations the operator has.
Price Information
Operators offering consumers electronic communication services must have their prices, rates, and general terms and conditions publicly available for consumers to access, for example on a website.
Itemized Billing
Operators offering telephony services must provide their customers with itemized phone bills. This means you have the right to receive an itemized bill for, for example, your phone calls, your messages, and data usage. The operator may charge an invoice fee for sending the invoice in paper format.
Blocks and Cost Control
To enable you to control your costs, operators offering broadband or telephony services are obliged to offer you a function for monitoring and control and various blocking services. With a call block, you can block your phone subscription from being able to call certain types of numbers or from sending SMS messages that cost more than regular SMS. With a credit block, your phone subscription can be blocked if you exceed a predetermined amount.
The blocks must be free of charge, and the operator must inform you that these blocks exist when you sign a contract. The block must never prevent you from calling the national emergency number or other toll-free numbers. You have the right at any time to temporarily suspend the block or remove it entirely by contacting the operator.
Non-payment
If a consumer does not pay for their telephony or broadband, the service cannot be disconnected until the consumer has been prompted to pay within a certain period. The time period must be reasonable. The consumer should also be informed at this time that the service may be interrupted if the consumer does not pay. If the consumer pays within the specified time, the service must not be interrupted. However, if a consumer repeatedly pays late, the operator may disconnect the service immediately, provided that the operator immediately informs the consumer of this. After the service has been interrupted, the consumer must have access to the internet and be able to make emergency calls and other toll-free calls for at least ten days.
Information and a Summary Before Entering into a Contract
Before you enter into a contract for telephony, broadband, or TV subscription, the operator must provide you with clear and understandable information about the current service and also provide a brief, easy-to-read summary of the contract. The information requirements vary depending on the service in question.
The information about the contract/service should, as a rule, be provided on a durable medium, and when this is not possible, in a document that can be easily downloaded.
If it is not technically possible to provide a summary before the contract is entered into, the summary should be provided as soon as possible thereafter. The operator must use contract terms that mean the contract is valid only when you have received the summary and confirmed your willingness to enter into the contract.
The operator must ensure that the information and summary become part of the contract unless you have expressly agreed otherwise.
Change Contract
If an operator wants to change a contract with a consumer, the consumer must receive a notice of the change at least one month before the change is implemented. If the consumer does not accept the change, they have the right to terminate the contract within three months from the notice without any additional cost or fee. The operator must inform the consumer of the right to terminate the contract when informing about the contract change.
The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority is responsible for ensuring that the law is followed.